Doing business in China: learn from Dell

Of all the business innovations explorer Marco Polo discovered
in 13th century China, he was perhaps most surprised by the use of
paper money. It was worth dozens of times the weight of the heavy
coins that European traders lugged around. Today's multinational
technology companies could learn a similar lesson: Bring only
what's needed when entering China.

That's what Dell did under Phil Kelly, Dell Asia Pacific's first
senior executive. In 1998, he introduced just a portion of Dell's
famous business model to the Chinese marketplace, adding
capabilities and staff as growth dictated. As a result, Dell's
share of the PC market has grown more than 60 per cent a year since
2000, and will grow at twice the rate of China's overall PC market
between now and 2010, giving the company a strong follower position
behind IBM/Lenovo.

The strategy allowed the company to mitigate the risks of trying
to force-fit its model to China or abandoning its valuable
experience, two common pitfalls for multinationals. Moreover, it
allowed the company to localise operations, cement relationships
with customers and government officials, and control costs in ways
that account for the country's often-unpredictable quirks and
opportunities. It's a process that continues today under the
leadership of Foo Piau Phang.

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Dell's approach is worth studying. Companies that want to import
their business model as-is are following a natural instinct: they
believe they will succeed by continuing to do what they do well. In
theory, the company's value chain, core capabilities, and values
would all come along in a type of palletized, business-in-a-box.
Managers would simply adjust downward to satisfy local
requirements.

Alternatively, companies that invest in a new business model for
China are responding to what they see as unique conditions. They
often arrive at an initial arrangement that's very different from
their traditional one. Once again, managers intend to incorporate
their best capabilities whenever such standardisation would not
diminish the custom model for China.

Unfortunately, importing a company's business model lock, stock,
and barrel generally means importing costs as well. Doing things
the old way often costs too much in China. But customisation can
result in a nearly similar outcome, because so much efficiency is
lost through the abandonment of a well-proven model.

While Dell avoided these pitfalls, it still hit some bumps in
the road - sometimes literally. Mr Kelly, a no-nonsense leader and
former executive with Motorola in Asia, felt Dell needed to set up
shop in China rather than simply export into the country from its
Malaysian plants.

Headquarters thought differently, and initially rebuffed Mr
Kelly's proposal to put a factory in China. Not only was Dell's
model all but untested in China, they surmised, but also they had
concerns around costs, skills, and suppliers.

Mr Kelly remained convinced that Chinese customers would
ultimately find Dell's business model compelling, and finally won
approval.

He settled on Xiamen in 1997, a city along China's east coast.
But first, Mr Kelly and his team worked closely with the local
leaders to create mutually attractive conditions for investment,
tax relief, and production increases. Mr Kelly credits these
initial discussions with setting the right tone, saying "the
economic model started well before we collected on our first
invoice."

Next, Mr Kelly and his team roughed out the basics of the
business model. There was never any doubt it would be based on the
US model. But they used a simpler form of it - "about 35-40 per
cent worth," Mr Kelly recalls. At first, this meant that Dell sold
only a limited line of products - desktops - emphasizing corporate
buyers. Dell then built call centers and sales teams, but in a way
that was focused on the initial target market.

Mr Kelly had to adjust the model to accommodate local
idiosyncrasies, a challenge that continued well beyond his tenure.
For instance, even though eligible customers could order PCs online
or via phone, low credit card penetration meant that most were
unable to pay with credit cards. Dell created a flexible model that
allowed customers to pay-on-delivery.

Dell also addressed unexpected order-fulfillment glitches. In
one case, Dell hired a trucking company to deliver PCs in the
northern part of the country. After two weeks, Mr Kelly's team
discovered that PCs were arriving at customer locations in pieces.
After some digging, managers learned they needed to specify that
deliveries be made only on trucks with new springs.

The larger lesson is that business models must be adapted
thoughtfully to the Chinese context. The key watch-out involves
cost. If the business model can only be executed at high cost, the
company is probably importing too much of the model and needs to
consider possible adjustments to processes, standards, and
techniques. Paring the model to its core elements, then adding back
local pieces over time, allows companies to carefully build on
experience.

Consider how Mr Kelly used this insight to minimize the cost of
talent. Early on he brought his management team up from southeast
Asia to set up of the factory, support services, and suppliers.
Then he switched to local talent at the managerial level. He
reached full localisation of all direct reports to the production
head within the first year and full localisation across all posts
within a few years of operation.

The challenges facing companies in China are substantial, but
not insurmountable. The country is growing less opaque by the day,
and multinationals more experienced by the hour about how to break
into this underdeveloped IT market - one that will continue to grow
at least four times faster than the US tech sector over the next
two years. Defining the exact way to adapt to China depends on each
company's situation. As with most issues, the devil is in the
details. The heartening message is that multinationals are now
beginning to succeed in China. Witness the growing success of
companies such as Motorola, Cisco, and Hewlett-Packard. With
careful planning and execution, more will follow.

Tom Manning is the founder of China Board Directors LLC.
Paul DiPaola, based in Shanghai, is director of Bain and Company in
China.